


Glasses

by Dellefox



Series: Pridecember 2020 [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU, Aged-Up Character(s), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage, Prideshipping, Seto Kaiba being a cranky old man, Seto Kaiba being a nerd, Slice of Life, YGOPridecember2020, Yami Yuugi | Atem Has His Own Body, slight language, spot the Star Trek reference, ygopridecember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27825430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellefox/pseuds/Dellefox
Summary: Day 3 of Pridecember!Prompt: GlassesIn which Seto Kaiba refuses to admit his vision isn't what it used to be.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Series: Pridecember 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037481
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Glasses

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's read/shared/liked/reblogged/commented/left kudos. This has been a bright happy spot in an otherwise stressful week, and it's keeping me motivated to keep writing. I love you all. <3 
> 
> I've been chewing on this one since I got glasses of my own. Staring at monitors and screens all day takes a toll on the eyes and I figure with Seto's workaholic nature and the sheer amount of screens his job requires him to stare at that his vision would start to go eventually, and quickly. 
> 
> This little nugget will be part of a much larger AU I've christened 'Off Grid.' I'll start cracking on that one once Pridecember is over and I've recovered from the holiday chaos that is owning a smol business. 
> 
> Age disclaimer: most of these AUs were formed in my teenage weeb brain when I had no clue of canon ages. For those who've had to read this repeatedly, I apologize. I like to cover my bases. 
> 
> Ages in this fic:  
> Seto - 36  
> Atem - 34  
> Mokuba - 24
> 
> Also: Spot the Star Trek reference! Winners get the satisfaction of knowing Seto Kaiba is a big nerd.

It was late evening in the Kaiba manor. Seto was sitting in bed reading, Atem curled into his side, the shorter man’s brows furrowed in worry.

Though he headed one of the most powerful tech companies in Japan and loved anything and everything to do with computers and electronics, Seto had always voiced a bitter dislike towards Kindles, Nooks, and similar devices. He frequently extolled the virtues of paper books and ranted about their superiority over a tablet, lamenting over the decline of recreational reading and blaming a “meteoric rise of stupidity and ignorance within society” on a lack of books.

And yet here he was, scrolling through a virtual copy of _Kitchen Confidential_ with one hand while absentmindedly running his long fingers through Atem’s messy hair with the other _,_ the well-worn paper copy lying on the nightstand untouched. Atem glanced over at the tablet, and noticed the text was much larger than average print size of the paper books his husband dearly loved.

“Is there a problem?” Seto asked. “You’re looking at me like I’m in mortal peril.”

“You hate tablets.” Atem replied. “But you’ve been using one to read for the last several nights. What changed your mind?”

Seto paused. “I’m testing a new prototype,” he lied.

“You could have the R&D team test it for you,” Atem said.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t need to test it myself. I can’t release a product I haven’t thoroughly inspected. That's irresponsible.” He loaded the next chapter.

“I see.” It was Atem’s turn to pause. “You seem to be quite fastidious in testing the ‘zoom’ function.”

Seto looked up from the tablet. “Since when have my beta testing methods ever been a concern of yours?”

“Since you started squinting more and reading paper books less.”

“I can assure you my eyesight is perfectly fine. I can’t read a paper book and beta test at the same time.” Seto powered off the tablet and placed it on top of _Kitchen Confidential_.

“Is that why you’ve changed your laptop and desktop text size?”

“Imzadi, my vision is _fine._ I’ve just been a little tired lately. Larger text takes less energy for me to read.” He switched off the bedroom light and slid down into the covers, pulling Atem in with him, fingers still weaving through his tricolored hair.

“Promise me you’ll say something if it becomes a problem,” Atem murmured into the crook of Seto’s neck.

“I promise.” Seto planted kisses across the top of Atem’s head before drifting off.

~-~-~ 

Three weeks had passed since the conversation about the tablet. 

Seto stared across his office, desperately trying to get his eyes to focus on the antique grandfather clock that sat along the back wall, but instead was only given a very blurry outline of something that may have resembled a clock. Yesterday he came within centimeters of the corner of the solar array next to the garage and this morning he'd nearly driven into the fence, correcting at the last second. He was grateful his private elevator was voice-activated because he couldn’t see the numbers on the buttons without getting within two inches of the panel and he barely made it through the morning meeting.

_I must be tired,_ he thought, and rubbed his eyes. The clock remained fuzzy.

He tried squinting. Still out of focus.

“Fuck,” he grumbled. He settled for checking his phone instead, which told him it was nearly midnight and that he should probably go home to his husband and younger brother. He gathered up his laptop and papers and packed his briefcase, reasoning with himself.

_It’s fine. I’m just tired. That has to be it. I had 20/20 vision as a child. I’m too young to need glasses. Maybe I should take a vacation._

The drive home proved to be just as difficult to focus on as the clock. Trees, road signs, and traffic lights refused to cooperate and give him sharp lines. Turning into the driveway, he nearly caught the gate and sheared off the driver's side mirror.

_I’m just tired,_ he thought again for what felt like the millionth time that night. _I just need sleep._

He shifted into reverse and slowly eased his car into its normal parking spot next to Atem’s vintage Toyota pickup.

The resounding crash of breaking headlights and crunch of metal echoed through the garage. It startled Seto so badly he stalled the engine and the car gave a lurch forward. A bright orange "FUEL CUTOUT" message appeared on the instrument panel(or at least that's probably what it was, to Seto it just looked like a fuzzy neon blob). 

He let out an irritated sigh and rested his head on the steering wheel.

“ _Fuck!”_ he yelled.

He heard a door open and close and two sets of feet walking through the garage. He didn’t look up until he heard Mokuba tapping the windshield.

“Are you okay?” asked his little brother. “We saw everything on the security cameras. How did you not see the truck!?”

“I saw the truck!” Seto snapped. “I’m just tired. That’s all. I just need some sleep and I’ll be fine. I…dammit. Atem…I’m sorry about your truck. I’ll get it fixed.”

He stepped out of his car and surveyed the damage. He hadn’t allowed enough space before backing in, and the passenger door of the car had collided with the driver side headlight of the pickup. The damage to the car was cosmetic, but the headlight and turn signal of the truck were completely shattered. Bits of plastic and glass shards littered the garage floor.

“It’s quite alright,” Atem said. “I’m more worried about you than my truck. Let’s get to bed, it’s late.”

After a round of pleading and puppy eyes, Mokuba convinced Seto to leave the car and let him finish parking. As he settled into bed with this tablet set to an even larger text size( _I’m just tired…probably)_ he decided working from home the next day was the more intelligent option.

Seto was a fast reader, and the larger text size meant constant scrolling, which was more irritating to him than trying to squint and focus. He gave up after five minutes and contemplated the paper copy of _Kitchen Confidential_ , but he could barely make out the title from his position in the middle of the California king bed. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He heard the bedroom light click off and Atem’s footsteps across the carpet, followed by the rustling of sheets and bedding. An arm snaked around his waist. Seto wound his own arm around Atem’s shoulders and rested his other hand on his hip. Atem moved his arm up from Seto’s waist and brushed long brunette bangs out of steel blue eyes. Seto could feel Atem’s gaze burning into him in the dark.

“You almost drove into the fence again this morning.”

"I know."

"And you almost clipped a solar panel yesterday."

"I sure did." 

Seto took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Atem, I promised I’d tell you if my vision ever became a problem.”

“You did.” Atem’s hand trailed down Seto’s cheek, and back down his torso.

“It’s a problem.”

Seto felt Atem’s arm tighten around his waist, followed by soft lips trailing soothing kisses along his collarbone.

~-~-~ 

Work did not happen the following morning. Seto opened his laptop, took one look at the blurred lines of text, and promptly closed it. A voice text was sent to his secretary informing her he would not be in for the next two days.

After quickly ruling out Lasik surgery with the excuse of being unable to take the required time away from KaibaCorp (and absolutely not because he found the idea of someone cutting into his eye unsettling), the afternoon found him at an ophthalmologist’s office, trying and failing to differentiate between which set of lenses was more focused(“One?” _*click*_ “Or two?” _*click*_ ). He emerged from the exam room, eyes fully dilated, to find _extremely_ blurred and bright forms of Atem and Mokuba clutching armfuls of sample frames for him to try. The roll-up sunglasses the doctor had given him were proving to be bothersome, and they were folded neatly and placed his trouser pocket to be dealt with later. He found that if he squinted and tilted his head up while looking down he could focus enough to actually see enough detail to try them on. He spotted a pair of aviators Mokuba had slipped into his pile.

“I’m not trying those on,” he said flatly. An attempt at a glare was made which only resulted in giggles from Mokuba and a smirk from Atem.

“Oh, live a little!” You’d look badass! Like a 70s cop!” Mokuba chirped.

“ _No._ ”

“Mokuba has a point,” Atem said. “You’d look quite handsome.”

“You married me. I could wear a burlap sack and you’d think it was attractive.”

“Oh, quit being a grump!” Mokuba said. “Here, forget the aviators. Try these.” He handed Seto several pairs of square and oval frames.

Pair number one was a pair of silver wire oval frames. They aged him tremendously.

“Absolutely not,” he declared.

“Hey now, they aren’t _awful,_ ” said Atem. “…they look good, if you’re trying to pass for a sugar daddy.”

“ _No!_ ” cried both Kaiba brothers. The remaining oval frames were put back on their displays.

Pair number two were black and blue thick plastic frames with square lenses. Seto grimaced.

“I look like a nerd.”

“You _are_ a nerd,” Mokuba pointed out.

“I don’t need to broadcast that to the entire world,” Kaiba said indignantly.

“You already do,” Atem replied. “You own a gaming company, play Duel Monsters and D&D, are obsessed with dragons on a level that some might find disturbing, you wear flamboyant trench coats at press conferences and tournaments, you call me Imzadi – oh, stop trying to glare. I stopped finding that intimidating years ago and it certainly isn't working in your current state.”

Seto exhaled audibly through is nose. “Neither one of you are helping.”

“I think we’re doing a fantastic job, frankly,” said Mokuba. “Right, Atem?”

Atem nodded. “I think we might be on to something here.”

"On drugs, perhaps?" Seto quipped. His snark was ignored. 

Geometric frames were quickly disqualified, as they looked even worse than the oval frames. Round frames were an immediate no (“You could cosplay a Pokémon gym leader!”) and browline frames were also rejected(“You look like Mrs. Doubtfire…” “Thanks, Mokuba”), which left only the rectangle frames remaining. Seto carefully selected a black pair with frames that were slightly thicker than wires, but not as thick as the square frames he’d tried on earlier. Seto squinted at himself in the mirror, and found he didn’t dislike what he could see, given his condition.

“…wow. Those look really awesome, Seto!” Mokuba was beaming. “Those are _cool!_ ”

“They are quite handsome,” Atem agreed. "A bit cute, even."

Seto felt his cheeks warm. 

He found the more he looked at his reflection the more he liked them. He tried on a few more pairs with slight variations in shape and color to be sure all bases were covered, but in the end the simple black frames looked the best. He ordered a pair in black, black with a blue trim, and a color called “Silver Light Steel,” which Atem observed would match his Battle City coat perfectly. Mokuba drove them home, Seto reclining as far back as the passenger seat would allow, wearing the ridiculous roll-up sunglasses to rest his eyes, which were still horribly dilated. He dozed off to Atem gingerly stroking his hair from the back seat.

~-~-~ 

Two weeks after getting the glasses Seto tried a stint with contact lenses but found them aggravating. He hated the idea of daily disposables because he found it wasteful, and the work and thought required to clean multi-day lenses was equally as frustrating to remember. After he accidentally slept in them overnight after forgetting to take them out, he went back to using the glasses. He kept a pair in his car, in his office at work, in his home office, and the bedroom. 

Seto found mostly positive feedback from his employees and colleagues regarding his glasses, and discovered that if he slid them slightly down the bridge of his nose his glare was just as intimidating as it was without them, sometimes even more so depending on lighting angle. He liked that. 

The media had a field day. Tabloids, desperately grabbing at straws, were plastered with headlines such as “IS KAIBA OKAY? GLASSES INDICATE POSSIBLE HIDDEN HEALTH PROBLEMS” and “WHY NOT JUST HAVE LASIK? POSSIBLE TROUBLE WITH THE FAMILY FORTUNE?” Seto let the gossip rags loose in the PR and legal departments for them to have fun with. At times he felt like they had a little _too_ much fun going after them, but that's why he paid them. 

Fashion blogs and magazines were much more supportive, publishing articles and posts with titles like “ _Spotted: KaibaCorp CEO Seto Kaiba sporting sleek glasses and looking handsome with hubby Atem Mutou! #ontrend #nerdsarehot_ ” and “ _Seto Kaiba Shows Men Everywhere How to Age Gracefully._ ” Atem’s personal favorite, to Seto’s horror, was an article in a well-known fashion magazine entitled “ _Geek Chic: How to Rock Seto Kaiba’s Badass Nerd Look._ ” The article went into an in-depth explanation of what frame types worked best on various facial shapes. Glasses started becoming a fashion trend in the Duel Monsters community. Even duelists who didn’t require glasses started wearing thicker frames with faux lenses in order to pay homage to or emulate the CEO. A collaboration between Industrial Illusions, KaibaCorp, and a local fashion designer entered the pipeline, for a collection of Duel Monsters-themed frames. The release would be timed with the upcoming annual Battle City tournament. Of course, Seto got to "beta test" the Blue Eyes White Dragon. 

But what he enjoyed most of all was powering off that obnoxious tablet for the final time, placing it in his nightstand drawer, and opening up his beloved hard copy of _Kitchen Confidential_. He relished the feel of the pages under his fingers, the smell of the ink and the paper, and Atem snuggled into the crook of his neck, reading along with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> The blue and black frames are actually Oakleys, and I included them as an homage to his Tron-like outfit from DSOD: https://bit.ly/3o2mKyE
> 
> Fun fact: My very first car was a stick shift, and had a 'FUEL CUTOUT' light that came on when it stalled. That was literally the only time the light ever came on. I dropped two valves and had a fuel pump go out during my thirteen years of owning her, yet that never triggered it. Ford's way of saying "LEARN HOW TO MANUAL YOU NEWB" I guess? 
> 
> I’ve always thought Kaiba a man who prefers manual/stick shifts over automatics, hence the stalling of the vehicle when he backs into Atem’s truck. Why does Atem drive a beater truck when his billionaire husband could buy him a fleet of brand new pickups? That will get covered in future fics. ^_^
> 
> As always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated!


End file.
